Will Seattle tourism rally? Some signs say yes

Storm clouds build behind Seattle’s Space Needle on Wednesday March 31 in Seattle. A first-quarter bounce in hotel occupancy rates is the strongest sign Seattle tourism may be on the rebound. (Joshua Trujillo/Seattlepi.com)

Mayor Mike McGinn proclaimed Tuesday as Tourism Day in Seattle. Governor Chris Gregoire proclaimed the same in Washington state. A flag bearing the message “Tourism Matters” began blowing around atop the Space Needle, and Ann Peavey, face of the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau, handed out swag bags and freebies at a Tourism Rally at Westlake Plaza.

“Rally” is a fitting word. The city may be celebrating tourism, but the latest industry news — bearing numbers still impacted by the recession — isn’t all great.

The city’s year-over-year tourism industry declined in 2009 for the first time since the catastrophic 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to a 2009 economic impact study compiled by Dean Runyan Associates for the city’s convention and visitors bureau. Adjusted for lower fuel and hotel room rates, travel spending declined 2.9 percent. Travel-related employment decreased 5.7 percent.

But that’s better than what travel-related employment did nationally — dip 6.2 percent. And that’s where the bureau hopes you’ll see a bright side.

“Cities are coming out of recession slowly,” said bureau spokesman David Blandford. “Some cities are coming out quicker than others.”

The biggest sign that Seattle is one of those cities, the bureau says, is what’s happened with hotel occupancy rates in the first quarter of 2010: they’ve gone up, faster than most other major cities.

Compared to the first quarter of 2009, Seattle hotel occupancy rates are up 8.2 percent — the seventh highest year-over-year gain of any city. Boston fared best with a 15.1 percent boost. Houston, ranked at the bottom of a 25-city list, saw a 9.5 percent dip.

It’s quite a change from 2008-2009 first quarter numbers, when Seattle’s occupancy rates dipped 13.8 percent, ranking it 17th on the same growth survey.

Bureau employees are optimistic about other things, too: 71,000 square feet of new meeting space at the Washington State Convention Center, two new hotels, strong passenger volumes at the Port of Seattle, emerging Northwest visitor markets in China and India and what Peavey — who works with visitors daily as a bureau concierge — could have described as a hunch.

“People are much more comfortable. They’re opening their wallets more,” she said.

“Last year, it was all about, ‘I just spent all my money on my plane tickets,’ etc. This year, I’m not feeling that.”